Western Europe recorded more than 10,000 excess deaths during an unprecedented June heat wave, according to a new analysis. Last month was the hottest June on record in Western Europe, measuring 5.5 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than the recent average, as reported by the E.U. Copernicus Climate Change Service. The June data \u201cunderscored how profoundly the climate is changing,\u201d said Samantha Burgess, deputy director of Copernicus.<\/p>\n
During the late June hot spell, temperatures in parts of Europe were 16 degrees F warmer than usual, according to Copernicus. Britain saw heat surpassing 98 degrees F, while France recorded temperatures up to 109 degrees F. These extreme conditions were part of a broader pattern across Western Europe.<\/p>\n
With the stifling heat came a spike in deaths. Western European countries saw 10,000 more deaths than would usually be expected in late June, according to EuroMOMO, a network backed by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. Of those, more than 9,000 were among people 65 or older, a group that is highly vulnerable to extreme heat.<\/p>\n
The increase in deaths runs counter to typical seasonal trends. Normally, mortality peaks in the middle of winter, as cold settles in and flu spreads, before reaching a low in the summer. \u201cTo have this kind of excess at this time of year is unusual. It\u2019s really high,\u201d said Lasse Vestergaard of the Statens Serum Institut in Denmark, which hosts EuroMOMO. \u201cIt is difficult to explain this high excess mortality by anything but the extreme heat.\u201d<\/p>\n
A separate analysis found that in England and Wales alone, the June heat wave was responsible for more than 2,200 deaths. The analysis further estimated the number of deaths that were a result of the excess heat brought about by global warming. It found that 38 percent of mortalities could be attributed to climate change.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s time we woke up to the fact that we now live in a country with dangerously hot summers,\u201d said Clair Barnes of Imperial College London. \u201cTo protect people during future extremes, we must urgently adapt to the reality of the climate we now have and double down on global efforts to reach net zero emissions to stop this from getting worse.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Western Europe recorded over 10,000 excess deaths during June 2026 heat wave, with 9,000+ among elderly. 38% of deaths attributed to climate change.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":717,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test2.cryptofinancewire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test2.cryptofinancewire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test2.cryptofinancewire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test2.cryptofinancewire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test2.cryptofinancewire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=718"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/test2.cryptofinancewire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":719,"href":"https:\/\/test2.cryptofinancewire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718\/revisions\/719"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test2.cryptofinancewire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/717"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test2.cryptofinancewire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test2.cryptofinancewire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test2.cryptofinancewire.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}